Slow Rip speeds with px-712a

Hi, I am running into some pretty pathetic rip speeds in Smartripper with my px-712a. It is the secondary master and has firmware version 1.03. Rip speed tops out at about 2x and takes around 48 minutes to rip. I have a cheap dvd-rom(seconday slave) that is getting much better rip speeds, over 8x at times and can rip in around 15 minutes. I know roms tend to be better rippers than burners, but I was under the impression that my rip times are abnormally slow for the px-712a. The unit burns at it's rated speed its just ripping that is a problem. I was thinking of upgrading the firmware but since none of the release notes deal with ripping I was concerned with "rocking the boat" of stable burns that I currently get. My next thought was an atapi driver problem, but its using the same damn driver as the dvd-rom. My burning station is a bit on the slow side as an Athlon 750mhz, but I have my doubts this is the cause of slow ripping.

Most DVD burners will only rip at 2x speed. You can trick your Plextor into reading much faster, but you are far better off using your DVD-ROM to rip and then your Plextor to burn. It saves wear and tear on your burner.